DIY Fabric Art

In my house New Year's Resolution post, I said I was going to get some art finally on the walls. Being the former Art major I am, I wanted to create my wall art. Call me stubborn.

Knowing I had a lot of walls to cover, I headed over to Michael's and caught some canvas packs on sale. Buy one, get one free. Sweet. Just what I needed!

I also went over to Jo Ann fabrics looking for some unique and fun coordinating fabrics for my living room. I wanted to start putting art in there since its the room guests hang out in the most. Go figure right? Make things nice for everyone else.

I started by ironing the fabric out smooth.

Then, using the canvas as a guide, I cut the fabric to size so that the fabric would wrap over the entire surface.

Using a spray adhesive, I used Elmer's Craft Bond, I attached the fabric to the canvas. I decided on the Elmer's because it could be used for temporary or permanent adhesion. It stays tacky for awhile and you can move things around if need be.  

Using a credit card, or Qdoba Q card, I started with the center and smoothed the fabric to the edges. I sprayed each corner individually and smoothed again until the whole surface was like glass.

Make sure to cover the area you are spraying. The glue is very tacky. I had fun getting it off my hands. You don't want a sticky mess all over.

Going around the sides of the canvas is a little tricky. The glue tends to spray everywhere. Spray lightly.

Fold the edge down and smooth out with the credit card.

On the edge, fold it flat so it poofs out like a little tent.

Spray the left edge and fold it flat. Then repeat with the right side. Repeat the steps around the canvas until the whole thing is properly covered.

Then let the glue set for at least an hour.

Next was the fun and easy part, decorating. Didn't seem hard yet did it? I took an old book we would never read again, Little Man, What Now?, and tore some pages with a lot of text on them. Sorry old German novel, you just don't get much play at the Anderson house. Anyways, I cut a slit in the paper.

Then using my trusty hot glue gun, put a strip down the side of one of the slit page. Sorry its a little hard to see.

I then glued the edge of the page down and free form cut a circle creating a slight cone or boob-like shape. I didn't mean for it to be a little boob, I was trying to mimic the parasols in the fabric pattern.

I repeated that until I got the desired amount of boobs circles and arranged them in a flowing pattern. I attached them with a ring of hot glue around the outsides of the back and carefully pressing them onto the fabric canvas.

Using scrap ribbon from some of my other projects, I hot glued pieces that danced across the canvas letting pieces loop and swirl around. I did not want to plaster them down so it was a three-dimensional piece.

There you have it, DIY fabric art for less than $10.

Looking for some more inpiration for yourself? Check out DIY magazine's fabric art. Great ideas for art on the cheap. I read their article in their Spring 2012 issue and was totally inspired.